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Face of Mankind Adds Vortex Node Selection, Aliens and More

NEWS

Feb 20, 2010

A major patch has been announced for the sci-fi MMORPG Face of Mankind. The most notable change is to the Vortex Gate system. Previously, players simply selected which colony or planet they wanted to visit. With the new system, players are given a choice between several areas on the selected region.

Because of the tired account structure, the choices available will vary depending on the player’s account type. Free accounts can chose a random node or pick from a faction node that changes every 30 minutes. Paying players can chose from all available nodes at any time.

Another major development is the expansion of PvE features. The alien Xenomorph race which populates the planet Necars Field is now worth hunting. Until now, killing these creatures was rather pointless but now players who kill or contribute to the killing of Xenomorphs will receive Universal Credits, Experience Points, and loot.

Face of Mankind is definitely a unique MMORPG. It has a closed economy which means nothing is generated out of thin air. Even the loot the Xenomorphs drop are actually recycled from elsewhere. Face of Mankind is mainly a cooperative PvP game with a third-person shooter feel to it.

Full Release:

We are pleased to announce a major patch with several major features that have long been requested for by our players at Face of Mankind.

Firstly, we are pleased to present a major revision to the Vortex Gate system. We have revised the starmap which is currently used only to select the city or colony a player wishes to visit, and added the ability for players to select precisely which vortex node they wish to enter the city or colony by. To do so, players need only select on the world they wish to travel to, and a small window will open with the relevant description of the world and the nodes the player can choose to travel to. The options that appear will vary depending on your account type; in other words, whether you own a premium or free account.

If you own a free account, you will be presented with two options:
1. Choosing the default faction node that every member of the faction will vortex into together if this option is chosen, and which changes every 30 minutes (ingame time) – which was until now, the only option available during the vortex travel process;
2. And choosing to travel to a completely random node on the selected colony/city; a feature implemented to prevent the phenomenon of players ‘camping’ the default faction node once it was made known to them through spies or other methods.

If you own a premium account, you will be presented with the following options:
1. The two options available to free accounts as mentioned above;
2. And the ability to specify exactly which node on the selected colony/city you wish to travel to.

Secondly, we are pleased to finally release a Player versus Environment (PvE) feature in the form of our aliens or ‘xenomorphs’ that can only be located on the planet Necars Field. Although this feature has been implemented in Face of Mankind for quite some time now, it was only a preview of what was to come – and what has now arrived.

The xenomorphs will be automatically spawned at various locations interspersed throughout the entire world at regular intervals, hence ensuring that the world will remain perpetually populated with xenomorphs.

Up till now, killing these creatures has long been a pointless exercise, with no rewards other than the fun that is derived from cooperating with other players against a common foe. Now, hunting and killing xenomorphs (or even merely contributing to the latter) will result in minor rewards in the form of Universal Credits (not Faction Credits), Experience Points, and item loot. True to our closed economy, none of these rewards (barring Experience Points for obvious reasons) are generated out of thin air. The Universal Credits for this are drawn from a pool that is contributed to by the fees for ingame player advertisements, as well as the fees levied on the factions for setting a faction to enemy status. Similarly, the items looted by killing xenomorphs above a certain size are actually from a pool of items contributed towards by permadead characters, as well as any items above the limit allowed for a free account when a player cancels his premium subscription. Note that this is
merely one of the various ways we have to ensure that items and credits that exit the system have a way to be reinjected into the economy to prevent a shortage in the money supply.

A new system of looting only for xenomorphs has been implemented, where looted items that are assigned to you will automatically appear in a loot window. Do not worry about this loot window popping up in the middle of a fight with a xenomorph and causing your death – the window will only popup in the background, and you can access it simply by pressing the Escape key. Once you are in a safe area, you can move the items into your inventory, equipment slots, or even directly into your world storage. Note though, that you can only transfer the items while you are still on Necars Field. We would like to remind you that while keeping these items in the loot window will not contribute to your character weight counter, the items will no longer be available for looting once you die and are sent to the Cloning Facility.
In response to the possibility of this feature being abused, we have set a daily cap of 10,000 Universal Credits that can be earned by any player through this system. Once this cap is reached, players will not only stop being able to earn Universal Credits, but also Experience Points and item loot. Face of Mankind is still a social game, and we still wish for Face of Mankind to remain as such through the continuous interaction between our players. We have implemented this feature as a means for players to engage in activities other than Player versus Player combat all the time, but not as a means to completely avoid working (or fighting) with their factions, other factions, and/or with other players.

We have many other plans to add upon what Face of Mankind has to offer in terms of content. These are more NPC’s to fight, new items useful in combat such as weapons, transportable shields, boosters and more.